I’ve opened thousands of Magic: The Gathering booster packs in my lifetime, and the process has its own sort of narrative flow: if it’s one of my first packs from a particular set, I’ll go slowly, reading each card so I can assess its strength. If I already have a lot of cards from that set, I’ll usually skim through to the last few to check out the rarest cards in the pack. Unless I’m participating in a draft event, it always feels as if this exercise exists in a vacuum, kind of like pulling the lever on a slot machine so that the fleeting rush of dopamine can hit. Because rest assured, opening booster packs is a form of gambling.
Opening boosters from Riftbound: Unleashed, the third set in the official League of Legends trading card game out on May 8, feels totally different — and it made me realize that Riftbound just might deliver the most satisfying pack experience of any TCG. Not only do the cards themselves have considerable heft to them, but preconstructed decks also have that neat little perforation in the plastic that makes them that much easier, and more satisfying, to open. More importantly, every time you rip open a pack, you feel like you’re hunting for something.
That thrill of the hunt has everything to do with the structure of the game itself. From a deckbuilding standpoint, you could argue that Riftbound is a lot like Magic’s Commander format. You have your “Legend” that defines your deck’s color identity and overall strategy. It starts on the board in an area similar to the Command Zone alongside your “Chosen Legend” representing the same character. The rest of your 40-card deck ideally includes three copies of that character’s “Signature Spell,” a powerful unique effect that’s cheaper than comparable spells. The rest of your deck often develops organically with other spells, units, gear, and champion units once you’ve established this foundation.
